"Be who you are, use what you have, do what you can." Russ Oberlin stopped me at a recent political meeting to pass along these dozen words that summarized -- he said with an earnest smile -- an ethic of responsibility and giving as well as any quote he could remember from nearly eight decades of life.
Russ lived that ethic admirably until the day of his sudden passing on on March 18, and its impact was attested by the throng of friends and fellow Republicans who crowded his memorial service in Littleton on March 22. What an exemplary gentleman, husband, father, and citizen he was!

Our thoughts are prayers are with Jane, Russ's wife of 56 years, and their children: Cynthia, Patty, David, and Blake. The family asks that memorial gifts be made to Developmental Pathways, the organization serving developmentally disabled persons, for which volunteered tirelessly over the past two decades.